Call for armchair astronomers to help search for new planets

There is no application process to join the Planet Hunters NGTS project - anyone with a web browser can join the search, writes Emily Atkinson

The European Southern Observatory where the footage of the brightest stars in the sky was captured. (Getty Images)

A call has been put out for armchair astronomers to help in a search for extrasolar planets - meaning a volunteer “just might be” the first on this planet to find a brand-new world in our galaxy.

The online citizen project is enlisting the help of the public to examine five years’ worth of digital footage showing some of the brightest stars in the sky.

The footage was captured by 12 Planet Hunters Next-Generation Transit Search (NGTS) robotic telescopes based at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Paranal Observatory in Chile.